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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26201104">Table Talk</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/lizard_socks/pseuds/lizard_socks'>lizard_socks</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Rootstock [6]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Steven Universe (Cartoon)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Aromantic Character, Asexual Character, Card Games, Gem Fusion, Gen, OC-centric, Other intelligent life exists but the Gems didn't know about it until after SU:F, POV First Person, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Post-Canon</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 07:22:40</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,795</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26201104</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/lizard_socks/pseuds/lizard_socks</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It's been years since Gems and humans started working together to explore the galaxy, and this 550-year old Pyrite is now living on an alien freighter. The ship is headed to Earth, and she's wondering if this might be the time for her to finally attempt fusion. The other Gems get so much out of it, so she should too... right?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Rootstock [6]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1778194</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Table Talk</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This story kinda exists in two contexts at once.</p><p>On one hand, it works as a Steven Universe post-canon fic, assuming that neither Gems nor humans encounter any humanoid lifeforms (other than each other) until sometime between SU:F and the present, when their work together results in technological breakthroughs that bring them into contact with new sci-fi and fantasy creatures. On the other hand, it's also written to fit with <em>Rootstock</em> and <em>Pyrite</em>, which both take place within the Star Trek canon (circa 2400).</p><p>Like other <em>Rootstock</em> stories, this one is all OCs; Leaf is from an original work I wrote a few years back.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Euchre is a bit of an odd game.<br/>
</p><p>First, the game uses the standard 52-card French playing card
      deck, except for the cards from two through eight. Second, on each
      deal of the cards, there are a handful of leftovers that don't
      enter play at all. Not to mention that you don't use the jokers,
      even though I think the joker was <i>invented for </i>this game.<br/>
</p><p>And since you're not using the four and six, you can lay them out
      in fancy ways to keep score, because apparently nobody has ever
      thought to bring a pencil to a game of euchre.</p><p>It's a game where two teams of two compete to see who can take
      more tricks. Each player gets five cards, so each round of play
      has exactly five tricks that can be taken. The cards are always
      dealt in groups of two or three. Even Ashley, the human sitting to
      my left, didn't know why the cards needed to be dealt this way.<br/>
</p><p>"Don't ask me." She shrugged. "Sheleth's the one who taught it to
      us."<br/>
</p><p>After dealing five cards to each of us, I flipped over one of the
      leftovers. "Ace of hearts."<br/>
</p><p>"Pass," Ashley said.<br/>
</p><p>Leaf, the furry bipedal monster, was across the table from
      myself. He looked at his hand for a couple seconds. Maybe he had a
      couple good cards, but didn't want to risk it. "Pass."<br/>
</p><p> "Pass." Misam set his cards on his lap.</p><p>Each player, starting with the one on the dealer's left, gets an
      opportunity to make the suit of the face-up card into the trump
      suit, meaning that any card of that suit played in a trick
      outranks all other cards, even cards of the suit that led. But
      whoever decides the trump suit is essentially making a declaration
      that they think their team can get more than half the tricks. If
      they do, they get one point; if they don't, the other team gets
      two.<br/>
</p><p>And if anyone picks the face-up card's suit as trump, the dealer
      takes that card and discards one of their own.<br/>
</p><p>I looked at my own hand:<br/>
</p><p>10♠ J♡ K♢ J♣ A♣</p><p> If I was going to make hearts the trump suit, I'd want good
      enough cards. Once someone got the opportunity to lay down a
      heart, it would take priority over any other suit - no matter what
      suit was led. It would also mean that the two highest cards would
      be the jack of hearts and the jack of diamonds, which would be
      treated as another heart for the duration of the round (I told you
      it was an odd game; other jacks would be normal - between the
      queen and ten.) So I'd have the top card and the third-best. Leaf
      and I, sitting across from each other, were on the same team, and
      the way he hesitated before passing made me think that maybe he
      had a some cards that could help me out.<br/>
</p><p>"I'll pick it up," I said, discarding my ten of spades.<br/>
</p><p>Ashley started by laying down the king of clubs. It was a high
      club, but I was able to go over it with my ace. I got a bit lucky
      - not only did everybody have a club in their hand, which
      prevented them from playing a heart and taking the trick, but the
      other cards played were the queen and ten. I now knew that there
      were no more clubs in play higher than my jack. I made a mental
      note to remember that later.<br/>
</p><p>Since I was the one who took the first trick, I got to lead the
      next. This time, I put down the jack of hearts, the highest
      possible card, which would guarantee me the trick - and hopefully
      force other players to get rid of their own good cards. Misam had
      to lay down his jack of diamonds, so that must have been his only
      heart. This meant that the highest heart left was now my ace. I
      put that down on the third trick, and won that one too.<br/>
</p><p>My king of diamonds got me the fourth trick, and I won the fifth
      with that jack of clubs, since nobody had a club left by that
      point either.<br/>
</p><p>"That's two points, isn't it?" Misam updated the score. "That was
      a strong hand you had there."<br/>
</p><p>"Leaf's wasn't bad either," I said. "I'm surprised <i>he </i>didn't














      call hearts."<br/>
</p><p>"Well, I'm glad you did," Leaf told me. "Honestly, you should
      have gone it alone on that one to go for the whole four points.
      You didn't need me at all."<br/>
</p><p>"I suppose we know that now. But I wasn't sure I wanted to take
      the risk."<br/>
</p><p> "With a hand like that, anyone ought to be able to get at least
      <i>three </i>tricks on their own, and we'd get one point for
      that, just like normal. Point is, as long as you're sure the
      <i>other</i> team won't get three tricks, there's no downside. You
      might as well give it a try."<br/>
</p>
<hr/><p>Not long after I took up my post on the ship's bridge, the doors
      in the back of the room opened and Leaf, now in his dark gray
      uniform, stepped through. "For a shapeshifter, it sure takes me a
      long time to put on clothes," he quipped, sitting down next to
      Ashley at the computer bank on the starboard side.<br/>
</p><p>"You can't just shapeshift into a version of yourself that
      already has clothes on?" Ashley asked.<br/>
</p><p>"Do you <i>really</i> want to see me try?"<br/>
</p><p>Leaf is a unique creature from a distant planet. His form may
      seem fairly ordinary (a bipedal body, about the height of a Pearl,
      and covered in fur), but he has a broad array of impressive
      abilities, which he attributes to the "magic" of his planet. His
      species - which simply calls itself <i>les monstres</i> - is just
      one of the many forms of life the Gems have encountered recently;
      our capabilities for interstellar exploration, which had stagnated
      for millennia, have grown substantially in the short time since we
      started working with the humans. That's what led to me - Pyrite,
      facet 4A cut 4XB - living and working on the alien freighter <i>Rootstock</i>.<br/>
</p><p>Ashley turned her attention to Misam, swinging her chair around
      and sitting it backwards. She brushed her blonde-dyed hair out of
      her eyes. "I gotta admit, I'm a little nervous about going back to
      Earth," she said. "But I bet you're excited."<br/>
</p><p>"I haven't been back since college!" Misam said. "And I really
      want a hot dog." His station was next to mine; we sat across the
      room from Ashley and Leaf, facing the port side. I tend to stay
      standing (as does the captain), but the others have a more
      humanoid body shape and prefer to have something to sit on. </p><p>"With real meat?"<br/>
</p><p>"No way. I grew up with fakes and I won't accept anything else."
      He spun his chair around towards me and leaned forward a bit. "How
      about you, Pyrite? Are you looking forward to anything?"<br/>
</p><p>"Should I be?" I asked. "It's Ashley's homeworld, not mine."<br/>
</p><p>"It's the first planet with Gems that we've visited since you got
      here. Maybe you can make some new friends. Might be a good
      opportunity."<br/>
</p><p>Ashley laughed. "Are you trying to hook her up with someone?"<br/>
</p><p>"Um... kinda? I feel like maybe a relationship would do her good.
      I'm missing that sort of companionship in my life right now - I'd
      love to find someone else of my species, even if just for a
      night."</p><p>"It's a little different for us," I said. "Or at least for me.
      I'm not an organic creature like all of you. We express our
      relationships in different ways."<br/>
</p><p>"But you do have... ways, right?" Ashley asked.<br/>
</p><p>"You mean Gem fusion? Technically, it's a battle technique - a
      way of combining your strength with others. But it's a lot more
      intimate than it sounds."<br/>
</p><p>Leaf had tuned out of the conversation earlier, but he swung back
      around. "That's something you can do? I didn't think you could
      interface with other holograms."<br/>
</p><p>"Not a <i>computer</i> hologram, no. But it would be possible
      for my gemstone and someone else's to temporarily form a single,
      larger body with its own consciousness. Don't ask me how it works,
      none of us really know."<br/>
</p><p>"Maybe it's magic," Misam said.<br/>
</p><p>Ashley gave Misam an odd look. "You're not kidding, are you? I
      thought you were a scientist. How can you believe in magic?"<br/>
</p><p>"Magic is just a set of small, site-specific rules that can
      nevertheless be reverse-engineered." Misam shrugged. "As a
      researcher you engage with it in the same sort of way. It's faith
      that requires a different sort of thinking, at least in my
      experience."<br/>
</p><p> "I never could get the hang of religion," Leaf admitted. "But I
      like to think I'm a decent mage."</p>
<hr/><p>Later that day, while walking down the corridor to fix a lighting
      array, I spotted Leaf leaning against the door of the holographic
      simulation room. He had a determined look on his face, and he was
      holding a disembodied green hand.<br/>
</p><p>"A memento from home?" I asked.<br/>
</p><p>"Nah." He tossed the hand from one hand to the other hand. "This
      is a hologram. It's being generated by the grid inside the room
      behind me. I'm trying to shapeshift my body... well, <i>into</i>
      it."<br/>
</p><p>"Couldn't you just make your own hand look like that one?"<br/>
</p><p>"I'm trying to get in sync with the computer," he said. "I want
      to see if my body and its holomatrix can work together. It could
      lead to some real breakthroughs in user interface design."</p><p>"Oh, I see what's going on," I said. "You pushed the holographic
      grid out of alignment with the room, knowing that I would need to
      fix it. You wanted to give me something to do."<br/>
</p><p>"What? No, it was already broken. I'm only standing in the
      hallway because it's the only spot I can get it to work. I don't
      know how to fix these things."<br/>
</p><p>"Push them until they're pointing the right way? Anyway, I always
      thought of you as the sort of person who still memorizes and dials
      people's communicator numbers instead of using the directory
      lookup. Not sure you're really interested in new approaches to
      UI." I walked over to the simulation room door and looked up at
      him. "You know, if you're trying to pull off fusion, it might be
      easier if you had someone to fuse <i>with</i>, instead of a weird
      dead hand."<br/>
</p><p>"...How would that help?"<br/>
</p><p>"Well, it's not really a <i>fusion </i>otherwise. The idea is
      that you have to be completely in sync with someone else, so
      something new and exciting can come out of it. I know you're not a
      Gem but..." I briefly averted my gaze. "Maybe it would work with
      me."<br/>
</p><p>"You think? My body might be a magical construct, but it's mostly
      organic, not photonic like yours."<br/>
</p><p>"It was never a problem for Steven. Granted, he <i>is</i> one of
      the most powerful beings of our species, but I've seen some of the
      things you've been through and survived. You're no slouch,
      either."<br/>
</p><p>"Doesn't make me powerful," he muttered. "Just impossible to
      kill. But I guess it's worth a try. What do we need to do to pull
      this off?"<br/>
</p><p>"I guess... be in sync? I've heard dancing helps."<br/>
</p><p>"Dancing? Do you want me to pull up Misam's <i>Xanadu</i>
      simulation? Because I could."<br/>
</p><p>"Don't be ridiculous," I said. "Although that's actually a really
      good stress test for the holomatrix. Let's just start with holding
      hands. Maybe that'll do something."<br/>
</p><p>"All right."<br/>
</p><p>He held out his hand - soft, gray, and surprisingly unremarkable
      for a unique being such as himself. I looked down at my own dull
      golden hands, attached to invisible arms, seemingly floating in
      space. I wondered if Leaf would have more luck with a holographic
      <i>monstre</i> <i></i>than with me. I wondered if I was real
      enough for him.<br/>
</p><p>I took his hand in mine and looked into his eyes.<br/>
</p><p>"So maybe that's all it takes." Leaf looked down at our hands,
      which had started glowing.<br/>
</p><p>"Are you sure?" I asked.<br/>
</p><p>"Really? You don't feel it?"<br/>
</p><p>I shook my head. "Maybe it's a monster thing. What's it like?"<br/>
</p><p>"I <i>know </i>what our fusion would be. Pointy ears, long
      hair, big mitten hands like yours, standing ten feet tall."<br/>
</p><p>"Laurite."<br/>
</p><p>"Exactly."<br/>
</p><p>"I see her too." I looked down at my feet. "But that doesn't
      usually happen until you fuse. It's all supposed to come to you at
      once... Do you think this is all that's going to happen? Maybe
      we're just incompatible. Maybe gems and monsters can't fuse."<br/>
</p><p>"But why would there even <i>be </i>a fusion between the two of
      us - in our minds - if we could never follow through on it?"<br/>
</p><p>"What else would it be?"<br/>
</p><p>Leaf let go of my hand and sat cross-legged on the corridor
      floor. "Maybe we're just not ready for this. Maybe we never will
      be."<br/>
</p><p>"But you were <i>trying</i> to fuse, Leaf. I mean, it was clear
      you had no idea how, but you were really trying!"<br/>
</p><p>Leaf sighed. "I was talking about you. Are you sure this is
      really something you want to do?"<br/>
</p><p>I thought about some of the Gems I had met, the ones who seemed
      to find a part of themselves in someone else, a part that made
      them whole after centuries, even millenia of being apart. They
      were so much happier, so much more fulfilled than ever before,
      which - in turn - made them more productive and creative than
      anyone had thought possible. It seemed to me like fusion was the
      future of the Gem society.<br/>
</p><p>But then why was I holding myself back?<br/>
</p>
<hr/><p> I
            sat at the table outside of the donut shop, holding onto the
            takeout coffee cup I had ordered. I had, to some extent,
            come to Beach City out of a sense of obligation.</p><p>Leaf,

            dressed in a navy winter jacket, emerged from the shop with
            a donut and sat down at the other table. "This place is
            still open?" he asked. "It's almost winter here."</p><p>"Low

            overheads, I guess. You know, I had an old computer
            simulation that included a donut shop. It was actually based
            on this one." I sighed. "The only things I really wanted to
            see here were this place and Regan, and Regan's not even
            here."</p><p>"Doesn't
she

            work in space? And besides, shouldn't you be looking for
            other Gems? The moment you got here, you went straight for
            all the human stuff."</p><p>"You're

            one to talk. Anyway, shouldn't you be in Dakar by now?"</p><p>"I
            figured I would just find someone to take me there through
            the warp pad." He took a big bite out of his donut. "I
            didn't want to take the <i>Rootstock</i>. Sheleth's going
            to Stockholm and she's hauling a bunch of equipment with
            her."</p><p>
  <span>"Can you </span>
  <span>
    <i>eat</i>
  </span>
  <span>
              donuts?" I asked.</span>
</p><p>"Eat,

            sure. Digest, not at all. Are you sure you don't want to
            visit Little Homeworld? I wouldn't mind seeing it either."</p><p>"I
            probably should."</p><p>I
            looked off towards the ocean. Leaf took my coffee and
            started drinking it, and I pretended not to notice.</p><p>"You

            still hoping to try fusion?" he asked.</p><p>"I
            don't think I know any of them well enough," I said. "I've
            only met two or three. Even the other Pyrites don't really
            think the way I do. You have to really know and trust
            someone to be able to fuse with them."</p><p>
  <span>Leaf took a sip of the coffee. "Is there some
              reason you </span>
  <span>
    <i>want</i>
  </span>
  <span>
              to fuse?"</span>
</p><p>"Well,

            I should be able to, right?"</p><p>"Oh,

            I'm pretty sure you're able to," he said. "But you're an Era
            2 Gem - you don't have a weapon you can summon. I've never
            heard you worrying about that."</p><p>"I
            don't expect to get in a lot of fights," I said. "But the
            whole structure of Homeworld has completely changed in the
            last few years. A lot of the old rules are gone, and people
            are still figuring out what kinds of institutions to build.
            I can't rely on people to tell me what to do anymore. I'm
            going to need to form relationships with people if I'm going
            to survive." I gestured towards a group of Gems wearing
            novelty T-shirts from the shop across the street. "Everyone
            else is so much happier like this. But I spent 550 years
            learning to fit in. Now I have to start all over."</p><p>Leaf

            smiled to himself. "First of all, Pyrite, you live on an
            Iroshan spaceship. Nobody fits in on Iroshar. And second -
            there's more than one way to have a close relationship with
            someone. You don't have to be part of a fusion to meet
            people and get their respect."</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Dealer: Pyrite</p><p>Top card: 🂱<br/>Ashley: 🂽🃞🂭🃉🂹 (pass)<br/>Leaf: 🂾🃝🃁🃍🂺 (pass)<br/>Misam: 🃋🂡🂪🃊🃚 (pass)<br/>Pyrite: 🂪🂻🃎🃛🃑 (call)</p><p>Pyrite picks up 🂱 and discards 🂪</p><p>Trick 1 (Ashley leads)<br/>🃞🃝🃚🃑</p><p>Trick 2 (Pyrite leads)<br/>🂻🂹🂺🃋</p><p>Trick 3 (Pyrite leads)<br/>🂱🂽🂾🃊</p><p>Trick 4 (Pyrite leads)<br/>🃎🃉🃍🂪</p><p>Trick 5 (Pyrite leads)<br/>🃛🂭🃁🂡</p></blockquote></div></div>
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